Communications Systems: Cloud, Onsite, or Hybrid?

Taking the plunge into 21st century communications takes a serious collection of trained IT staff, administrators, and server equipment. Communications have become a lifeline for the modern business, meaning any fault or failure of that system can have major repercussions for the business as a whole. There are a few options currently available that facilitate the speedy communications that every business needs to operate at top form. Depending on the size of your business, you will need to factor in the costs of your technical staff, as well as equipment costs (storage racks, server racks, cabling, etc.). If all of that proves to be too expensive, there are cloud options available which essentially take all the services you would normally need to setup in-house, to an offsite data centre which hosts all your services for the reliable, fast connection that doesn’t require any specialized staff to be able to operate. Whether or not it is the right fit, our technical experts will walk through the details of each to find what works best for your office environment!

TOPS Telecom Explains Onsite and Offsite Communications Solutions

It is easier to explain cloud services by first explaining the traditional onsite communications systems that have been prevalent out of necessity in the past. Hosting your services in-house takes a dedicated network administrator to monitor the system for any irregularities or faults. The system itself is comprised of a single, or many in larger businesses, server rack. This rack is a powerful computer connected to a large number of hard drives for data storage. When a call comes in, the server interprets the call and then sends it along to the correct person, storing any data transferred to the hard drives connected to it. Should one of these hard drives fail, or worse the server itself fail, the network administrator replaces the faulty component and turns the system back on. This down-time can be a hindrance to business, but it is can’t be prevented until the size of the system passes a certain size. For this reason, onsite communications are only recommended for medium to large size businesses that use a large amount of highly sensitive data. For most businesses, this option will be too costly to start up, and will have high maintenance costs to keep it running effectively.

How Cloud Services Ensure Reliable Communications

Enter cloud services. Cloud hosted communications take the stress off the business itself, allowing a third-party to host their communications services at a dedicated data center. In this instance, a business is “renting” the use of a powerful and secure server located outside the business itself. No more software licensing fees, it is all included with the server space. There is no easier, or more efficient option for VoIP, or other internet based services you use for communications.

This option, while attractive, still won’t work for businesses that transfer highly sensitive data through their communications channels regularly. To resolve this, hybrid communications allows a business to keep onsite services at their major locations or where the sensitive data is needed, then make use of cloud services for the regular communications needed for day to day usage. This is the best of both worlds, as it allows for the down-time free, headache free, use of communications channels, while still providing an in-house solution for the most sensitive information that is transferred.

Find out which option works best for your business, let the technical professionals at TOPS handle the migration of your communications systems, hassle free! Call us at (250) 979-6700.